Refinishing a Free Dresser & Noah and Levi's Room Tour

Guys, I've been keeping up with my blogging and I am loving it! I'm making this a priority because it makes me feel so accomplished when I hit the publish button and a new post goes up! I used to get so upset at myself and tell David I didn't feel complete when I wasn't able to get on here and type away. So this time, after posting on here that I would be posting at least twice a week, I am keeping my word.

These are my favorite post to share! Well this and a good thrifting haul. I absolutely have a passion for refinishing furniture pieces. I love finding just the right piece to bring back to life! It's not with every piece of furniture that I have a vision of redoing, it has to be one with the right quality, and some sort of plan for it has to come to mind instantly. Otherwise it will end up being furniture that sits there in that condition for months... even years.

With this guy, I found it on Craigslist, of course and it was FREE. Yup free. There are still somethings in this world that are free and this was one of them. When getting a free item or any item on Craigslist for that matter, I am careful on what we bring home. Usually it is David that picks up the item and brings it home. Things I tell him to check for :

1. Bugs. You never know and it's always good to check for large spiders, spider eggs, bedbugs or anything else. Luckily we've NEVER encountered this problem but you can never be too sure.
2. Smells. Particularly smoke smell. If the person giving the item away is a smoker, it will leave the furniture with a strong smell and sometimes paint can't even cover that smell.
3. Check to make sure what the piece is made of. I like working only with real woods. I avoid MDF wood, Laminate and particle board. Those are usually not easy to work with. 
4. I look for a label that shows where the item came from, what brand to see if there is any value to it before I change it and might change its worth. Our bedroom dresser and nightstands for instance, I bought from the Goodwill. They are beautiful midcentury modern pieces. The tops of the dresser are scratched up but before deciding on what to do with them, I found out they are Basset. A great company that's been around for a long time. So I left as is, until I can restore them to their original state. Usually a label or branding of sorts are located on the back or on the inside of a drawer. 

Before

So here he is! This was the way the dresser was posted online when I found it. Nothing attractive here but I had been wanting a long dresser for the boys' room and this one I knew had potential. 

This is during the process. I sanded it down as best as I could, to remove as much of that stubborn red paint the previous owners had painted it. 

I knew I wanted to paint it black and add new hardware. I used a black chalk paint from Target and that went on perfectly! 

Originally I wanted to give it a rustic look with light chipping on the edges but when I went to sand the edges after painting, Some of the red still showed through so I decided to leave as is for the time being.

Before adding hardware. Nice sleek new look!

After!

Tada! Here he is! Isn't he so handsome?! Hardware is from the Hearth and Hand line at Target. I found these pull in the clearance for $2.78 each pull. I love the way it turned out! Big thank you to my sweet husband for taking the time to measure and put each pull on each drawer for me! 

Boys' Room Tour

With the new dresser, I had to think of a new way of rearranging the boys' room to properly fit their new dresser. I took the old one out (one I had also refinished myself) and I also took out the white cubby shelf I had in there. I moved their toddler beds to one side of the room and the rug to go under their beds and placed their new dresser against the opposite wall facing their beds. The books I had in their cubby shelf I placed on top of their new dresser to display and left only a few toys in their room to keep it as minimal as possible. The other toys are near our living room where they play.

Find the Hearth and Hand Pulls HERE

We could not be more pleased with how the whole room ties together now. Our plan is to get the boy's a large bunk bed they can use until their teenage years but it will be a few months before we can do that.

 The only thing with having black or dark furniture is that dust is more visible . We have the window open a lot through out the day and live on a farm so dust is pretty inevitable. 

Storage canvas tote from Target. I actually found at the Goodwill for 2.99! Score! 

There you have it! Their new dresser and finished room! I love it and they do too! 

Old Rocking Chair Makeover

 We found this little gem in our favorite Goodwill location for only $2.99! When I say we I mean David found it. ;) I'm surprised by how into Goodwill hunting he can get, he usually doesn't like being in stores but he's gotten good at finding treasures.
This little chair was priced at $5.99 and than marked at 50%off so we paid almost nothing for this cute little guy.

As you can see, the design of the fabric is AMAZING  so I immediately got to thinking of what I wanted to replace it with. I love natural colors and linen so I knew that would be it. I had a linen table cloth that didn't fit our new big table so I used that and cut the size of the cushion out for both the back of the seat and the seat itself.

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to sewing, but I can get by with what I do know. So I cut out the shape of the cushion, using the old one as a measuring tool, and cut two out to sew together.

 The Actual chair I painted a blue color. I bought the paint from Target. I love how it turned out!

I did two coats and while it was almost all the way dry, I took a clean brush to brush some of the paint off to get the wood to peak through.

 My sewing is not perfect, not super straight, but I did make sure to use the right color thread to go with the rest of the chair.

 The old cushion had a little button that clasps onto the chair so I made sure to keep that and just change out the fabric. I love that little accent to it.

Isn't it cute?! I love it and it's comfortable. I hope this chair stays with us for a very long time. 

Refinishing Furniture

I mentioned in my last post that I've been refinishing furniture and really loving it. I'll find free items on Craigslist or even go "free yard sailing" (go after hours) and people will leave a lot of stuff up for grabs because they don't want to deal with the items that didn't sell. Or I'll even buy used furniture for cheap.
It's been very fun and therapeutic in a way. The only problem is we don't have much room for me to house many items so I have to do one at a time and since I stay home with the kids, I usually end up working on pieces late at night or during nap times so it takes me a while sometimes depending on how they are behaving that week.

I've done quite a few already, and sold some . I will admit I do end up loving some and just keep them for our little apartment haha.

I wanted to share some before and after of some furniture pieces I've done.

1.) Coffee Table 

2.) Small Dresser

3.) Coffee Table & Couch

I didn't get a "before " shot of this coffee table, it was free and left out in the rain. It had some rain damage up on top, so David and I sanded it down completely and decided to leave as is for a more rustic, simple look. I love how it turned out. Also, our couch was free because it had some cat scratches on the ends. All I did was remove all the fabric, washed it and than sewed up the holes and cut any excess ripped threads. I love our couch.

Those are just a few that I've done, I will post on other pieces I've done or will do. I really really love these types of projects. Wish I had more time but I really enjoy it when I do do it.